This story was sent to you by: Bill Hough -------------------- JFK neighbors are 'plane' upset -------------------- Some town residents already angry over an increase of noise as runway repair work at Kennedy forces planes into new routes BY COLLIN NASH STAFF WRITER August 12, 2004 The pride Susan Jacobsen takes in her home showed in the way she meticulously tended her front yard in Floral Park earlier this week. The Plainfield Avenue neighborhood where she has lived for three years is ideal, Jacobsen said, with the exception of the seemingly endless procession of jetliners rumbling overhead as they approach nearby Kennedy Airport. "On cloudy days when they fly low, it sounds as if they're about to land on my roof," said Jacobsen, an office manager in Garden City Park who added that the traffic is worse during daytime hours. "I feel like we are dumped on but where else are they going to go?" Joe Doolan, on the other hand, has learned how to tune out the noise from jets flying over his Long Beach community. "You hear them," said Doolan, a marketing executive. "But in the six years I've been here, I've never been bothered by it." Starting in mid-September the contrasting experiences of Jacobsen and Doolan could become even more polarized. That's when a major construction project will divert night traffic from one runway to three others at Kennedy Airport, creating more late-night air traffic in some western Nassau County neighborhoods and less in others. The first phase of the project -- scheduled to be completed in November 2005 -- involves replacing the center line lights on Runway 13L-31R, said Tom Bock, general manager for airspace technology and operational enhancements at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Other phases of the project include replacing approach light stanchions, and repaving the 10,000-foot runway, Bock said. As a result, the runway will not be used 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. The communities of Island Park, Long Beach, Atlantic Beach, Woodmere and Lawrence will benefit from the year-long, overnight lull in air traffic. But Lynbrook, the Valley Streams, Floral Park, New Hyde Park, Garden City Park, Elmont and Rockaway Beach will experience more air traffic -- everything from single-engine crafts to 747s -- than usual. Bock said the three other runways at Kennedy Airport are to undergo a less-extensive overhaul in the coming weeks as part of a maintenance program. "The increase in noise level, which will vary depending on which runway is being used, can't be quantified," said Bock, who acknowledged there would be more traffic over some communities because of the new flight paths. Excessive noise has been linked to stress-related disorders such as hypertension and sleep disturbance, as well as poor work and academic performance. And the potential for more aircraft noise over Floral Park prompted Mayor Ann Corbett, a village trustee and members of the local air traffic safety and noise abatement committee, to meet with Port Authority and other aviation officials in the spring to express concerns. "They listened and assured us that, when they can, they would try to evenly distribute flights," Corbett said. Arlene Salac, spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said the agency works closely with Port Authority officials to follow noise-abatement procedures, which dictate using routes affecting the fewest number of people when possible. However, Salac said, "Operational needs can supercede that." Often, said Jeff Zubli, an importer from New Hyde Park, days can go by without the relative quiet of the neighborhood being shattered by the din of jets overhead. But other times it seems nonstop. "It's like an 18-wheeler driving on your roof," Zubli said. For Carl Gambino, a resident of Atlantic Beach for almost 20 years, the sound of jets flying overhead is most discernible Sunday evenings, when he's in his backyard. "You get used to it," he said. In fact, Gambino said he finds the sight of a jetliner preparing to land somewhat mesmerizing. "Sometimes you just space out watching them." Copyright (c) 2004, Newsday, Inc. -------------------- This article originally appeared at: http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/manhattan/ny-lijets0812,0,3820815.story?coll=nyc-moreny-headlines Visit Newsday online at http://www.newsday.com